Centre advises Roy to stop controversial tweets

NEW DELHI: The Centre has finally advised the Meghalaya governor to put a leash on his thoughts on social media.
Tathagata Roy, who had been denounced for a series of controversial tweets, has been asked by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to abstain from making political and other statements which are unbecoming of his gubernatorial post.
Roy’s tweet against Kashmiris following the terror attack in Pulwama in February did not go down well with the Centre. In fact, during a telephonic conversation with Roy, Singh had expressed concerns over his February 19 tweet endorsing the boycott of “everything Kashmiri”.
The advice to Roy comes in the wake of nationwide protests, particularly in Jammu & Kashmir.
The five-phase election in the trouble-torn state will begin on April 11 amid tight security.
After the Pulwama attack, Roy had tweeted, “I am inclined to agree to a tweet which read: ‘An appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army: Don’t visit Kashmir, don’t go to Amarnath for the next two years. Don’t buy articles from the Kashmir emporia or Kashmir tradesman who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri’.” This had invited sharp reactions with the People’s Democratic Party, the National Conference and the Left demanding his resignation.But Roy had defended himself in another tweet saying, “Vociferously violent reactions from the media and several others to my echoing of a suggestion from a retired army colonel. A purely non-violent reaction to the killing of our soldiers by the hundreds, and the driving out of 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pundits.”Roy, who was the president of BJP’s West Bengal unit between 2002 and 2006, had also referred to the Pakistan army as those “who are handling the Kashmiri separatists” and had commented on its role in “East Pakistan”, mentioning war crimes like slaughter and rape of thousands of Bengalis during the Liberation War. A Bengali from Kolkata, Roy was reportedly removed from his governorship in Tripura for his controversial remarks.